Holder



Patented Oct. 10, 1944 HOLDER Gustaf L. Reenstierna, Union City, N. 3., assignor of one-half to Mario M. .Polcari, Union City,

Application October 17, 1942, Serial No. 462,337

2 Claims.

f My invention relates to a sanitaryholder for such articles as chewing gum and similar fiat articles, and particularly to a holder and container which ejects for delivery one of a plurality of such articles. Among the purposes and objects are to provide:

A holder and container which holds and contains flat objects free from contamination and dirt and conveniently ejects such objects one at a time.

A sanitary holder which ejects one of a plurality of sticks of chewing gum.

A container for feeding individual sticks of gum having a swinging cover and a spring which is secured to the cover which holds one or all of the sticks of a package of gum against the ejector.

A container having an ejector to move one of a plurality of flat objects endwise out of the container.

I accomplish these and other objects by the construction herein described and shown in the drawing forming a part hereof in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View showing the application of my device.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are end elevations showing the swinging cover and feed spring at various degrees of opening,

Fig. 5 is a bottom view.

Fig. 6 is a section at 6--6, Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary enlarged section at 'l-'!, Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the moving parts of the slide.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the feed spring.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing and in the specification to follow.

My device is particularly useful in preserving chewing gum in a sanitary condition while carried in the pocket, as well as to provide a convenient way of delivering each individual stick of gum from the sanitary holder or container.

While gum is one of the articles which may be handled by my device, other similar articles may also be similarly preserved and delivered.

In this, mydisclosure, I have shown in details, my preferred construction which embodies the underlying principles of my invention. To those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains, after a study of this detailed disclosure, numerous modifications may be suggested which do not necessarily depart from the scope of this invention. I wish it understood that in describing one of the embodiments in detail, that this is done for the purpose of clarity and to illustrate rather than to limit the scope of my invention and this Letters Patent.

My invention is set forth in the appended claims which follow this detailed specification. It is not my purpose to illustrate or describe all of the possible modifications which may be substitutes for the details herein disclosed or those which may fall within the scope of the claims which set forth my invention.

Referring to the drawing, the general characteristics of my holder include a. housing H at the top i of which is provided the hinged cover 2 to which is secured the leaf spring} secured near the center 4 to the inner surface of the cover and so disposed as to project downwardly at both ends 5 when the cover is closed. The ends are twisted so that when they come in contact with the top piece of gum G they may slide on the gum wrapper during the further closing of the cover afterthe spring ends make contact and as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawing.

It will be seen that the spring ends thus slide a considerable distance, as illustrated particularly in Figs. 3 and 4, while the spring is being compressed to the closed position of the cover.

The spring presses each piece of gum G against the other and particularly against the feed plate 6 which is slidably mounted in the bottom 1 of the housing and is provided with an upwardly flanged end feed lug g which is slightly less in height than the thickness of any one of the several pieces of gum, the bottom one of which rests on the feed plate and the end of which is contacted by the movement of the feed lug and forced to enter the exit slot 9 at one end of the housing H.

The feed plate preferably is slightly less in Width than the interior width of the bottom of the housing and substantially less in length than the interior of the housing which is provided with the slot 10 in the bottom, which permits the connecting lugs ll of the feed operator I2 to freely slide longitudinally therein. The connecting lugs engage the feed plate and secure it to the feed operator on the exterior of the bottom of the housing.

The metal at one end of the slot I0 is forced downwardly to provide the fixed spring seat l3 for the coil spring M which rests against the movable spring seat l5 at one end of the interior of the operator l 2 which houses the coil spring 14.

The exterior surface l6 of the operator is preferably knurled or ribbed I 1 to prevent the finger of the operator from slipping on it while pushing the operator to feed a stick of gum out of the housing at the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

The spring 3 extends downwardly to force the last piece of gum against the feed plate so that one or all of the pieces of gum may be ejected or fed from the container and. then to cause the cover to spring open as soon as the latch lug I8 of the cover is released by pressing the front side H] which is provided with the latch receiver depression or aperture 20.

Particular attention is called to the ends 5 of I gum and thus prevent the cover from closin while the ends of the spring are sliding on the top of the gum to the position at which the cover is 'closed.

Having thus described the preferred construction embodying the underlying principles of my invention, the appended claims point out and set forth what I believe is new and desire to secure by these Letters Patent.

I claim: I

1.[.In' aholder for a plurality of fiat articles, .a rectangular top and'a hinge swingingly securing the long side of said top to the long side of said holder and a leafspring secured to the inner surface thereof and disposed lengthwise of said top extendable downwardly at its ends to the bottom of said holder, thereby pressing one or all of said flat articles toward the bottom of the holder, said spring being twisted near its ends to a plane to conform to substantially the plane of the top flat articles when the top is raised and permitting the ends to slide transversely on the top of said flat objects while being compressed by closing said cover.

2. In an elongated holder for a plurality of flat articles, said holder having front, rear and end walls, and having a rectangular cover hinged along the upper edge of the rear wall and releasable to spring open, a flat spring secured at its center to the center of the inner face of said cover and having each end twisted toward the front of the holder by an approximate 15 degree twist, whereby the ends of the spring conform to substantially the plane of the top of the flat articles when the cover is in partially open position, to slide transversely on the flat articles when the cover is closed, said holder having an exit slot at the bottom end thereof, and the ends of said spring being normally extendable to the bottom of said holder to press one or all of said flat articles to the bottom of said holder to befed out of and through said exit slot and to open said cover when released, said holder having latch means on the side opposite said hinge yieldingly holding said cover from opening, and feeding means forcing the bottom of said fiat articles into said exit slot.

GUSTAF L. REENSTIERNA. 

